10-course lute
Maker
Christopher Challen
Date1976
Place MadeHertfordshire, United Kingdom, Europe
SignedWritten in blue ink on label with hand-drawn double-line border: Christopher Challen / in Hertfordshire / May 1976DescriptionThis is a renaissance-style instrument built after the maker Christopher Challen’s 8-course Martin Presbyter lute (1595), which he later sold to the Basel Schola Cantorum. It was made when Challen was the leader of the West Dean historical instrument building degree program. Challen was also the former owner of the NMM's Stradivari mandolin.Stringing: 10 courses; nine double courses and one single top string
Soundboard: two-piece quarter-cut Swiss pine: narrow-to-medium grain; top extends 19 mm onto neck
Bowl: 9 pear cut off-the-quarter; medium curl
Clasp: pear cut off-the-quarter; medium curl
Head: black-painted hardwood; back veneered with four ebony and three ivory strips, the outer ebony strips wider
Neck: veneered with ebony; fifteen alternating ebony and ivory strips at center
Binding: none
Fingerboard: ebony; 9 tied gut frets; three ebony frets inlaid into top
Nut: bone
Bridge: ebony tie bridge with ebony scroll ends
Pegs: 19 ebony pegs with heart-shaped heads
Rose: geometric, carved from top
Finish: clear varnish on bowl
Bowl lining: light strips of cloth reinforcing stave joints and running perpendicular to stavesDimensionsTotal 10-course tenor lute length: 760 mm
Length of body, to neck: 454 mm
Top length: 463 mm
Maximum body width: 294 mm
Maximum bowl height: 94 mm
Head length: 264 mm
Head width, top: 22 mm
Head width, bottom: 63 mm
Neck length (nut to ribs): 229 mm
Neck width, nut: 75 mm
Neck width, heel: 89 mm
Soundhole diameter: 95 mm
Vibrating string length (nut to bridge edge): 566 mmProvenanceNo known provenance.
Credit LineGift of Donna J. Curry, 2021
Object number15618
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